Johannesburg City, South Africa

South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg, sprang to life in 1886, following the discovery of the world's richest goldfields on the Witwatersrand. Within three years of it's birth, Johannesburg was the country's largest town. In 1928 it became a city, and is now the second biggest on the African continent after Cairo. It stands 1,763 m (5,748 feet) above sea-level and enjoys an average of nearly 9 hours of sunshine a day throughout the year.

Advertisements

In 1886 an Australian prospector, George Harrison, was responsible for the gold rush that year by stumbling onto the Witwatersrand reef. He made this discovery after being hired as a handyman on a nearby farm. Within days of this discovery a mass of humanity arrived to the goldfields in search of thier fortunes.t

By October that year, the nine farms along the Witwatersrand had been declared public diggings and tents & makeshift shelters sprang up alongside them.

SOWETO, an abbreviation of "south western townships", is in effect a "city within a city", being the home of many black people working in Johannesburg and its immediate environs. Much effort and finance is being invested in Soweto by the central government, the Johannesburg Municipality, and private enterprise, through the Urban Foundation, in an attempt to improve amenities and the general quality of life for its inhabitants. Estimates of the population vary from 2-5 million people.